China Orders Tibetans to Spy and Expose ‘Dalai Lama’s loyalists’

DHARAMSHALA: In yet another sign of China’s growing insecurity over the issue of Tibet, the government of the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) currently under Chinese occupation has promulgated a guideline on how Tibetans should spy on each other and report their activities to the public security bureau.

The detailed guideline has particularly stated that the Tibetan public should provide information on the activities of what they labeled as “criminal gangs connected to the separatist forces of the Dalai Lama”.

They specifically instructed Tibetans to be on the lookout for forces embedded in the region that use local temples and religious fervor to foment trouble and incite people against Beijing.

The circular has listed 22 illegal activities that Beijing wants people to report, three of which directly mentioned His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the octogenarian Tibetan spiritual leader who fled Tibet in 1959 to India.

China’s insecurity over Tibet has spawned fears that there are groups within its borders that are at the Tibetan spiritual leader’s beck and call to promote ethnic extremism.

However, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration have already renounced complete independence for Tibet and has proposed the Middle Way Approach that calls for genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people.

The circular also signals the growing unemployment of Tibetans outside of the massive surveillance and stability infrastructure prevalent in Tibet.

Researchers and Tibet watchers have indicated that lack of proper employment opportunities has forced many Tibetans to work in the surveillance industry, which involves spying on fellow Tibetans for a livelihood.